Luxury Insights

Video Postcard from Africa: Rapport

Helmsley Estate Sells for $35 Million

According to The New York Times:

The 40-acre Greenwich, Conn., estate of the late hotel magnate Leona Helmsley was sold Tuesday for $35 million — down from the $125 million it was listed for in 2008 and $20 million less than the last asking price, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.  (full story)

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Leona Helmsley's 40-acre estate in Greenwich, Conn., was sold for $35 million, marked down substantially from its initial $125 million price tag but still among the most expensive homes ever sold in this affluent New York suburb. (full story)

Luxury Markets in the News

As you probably recall, NAR's recent numbers showed that year-over-year sales in the $1m+ segment were up in every region across the country.  

A quick scan of the news this morning suggests a similar trend for Canada:

Edmonton sees 26% spike in luxury-home sales
Vancouver Sun
While homebuying activity is cooling in Edmonton, luxury-home sales are picking up, says a new national report by RE/MAX...

New report shows Winnipeggers opting for more high-end homes
Winnipeg Free Press
In Winnipeg, there was a 104 per cent jump in upper-end sales (homes selling for more than $500,000)...

Buyers not shy as home sales chug along
Hamilton Spectator
Re/Max figures show sales of luxury homes valued at $750,000 and up rose 47 per cent in Hamilton over last year... In Burlington, where a “luxury” home starts at $1 million, there were 33 sales, up 94 per cent from 17 last year.  In fact, Burlington just recorded its highest sale, priced at $10,350,000...

And news from Hawaii suggests that the Honolulu's luxury market is showing strength:

The Lowdown on Honolulu's Luxury Market
HONOLULUMagazine.com
Luxury homes are moving fast - current days-on-market are at their lowest levels in 10 years...Not only are luxury homes selling faster; fewer price reductions are being made. Thus far this year, about 25 percent of high-end homes have had a list-price reduction before selling, a marked decrease from mid-2009, when close to 50 percent of luxury-home listings were reduced in price before finally selling.

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Webinar: Creative SEO

If you missed the ILHM webinar on the last day of September and are concerned about making your website more effective, you’ll want to tune in to the recording.  You can find it on the Webinars page in the members only section of our website (login required). 

Dustin Luther, Founder, 4realz Consulting shared lots of information on how to improve the volume and quality of traffic to your website.  If you’re not techno-savvy,  that’s okay, because Dustin makes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) pretty clear and simple.

 Dustin has also offered our members free 5-week training which includes these sessions:

• Week 1: Your First Blog Post
• Week 2: Adding Photos, Videos and Links to Your Blog Post
• Week 3: Creating a Landing Page (SEO)
• Week 4: Facebook Basics
• Week 5: Twitter Basics

To take advantage of this free training, register on Dustin’s website. 

If you are headed for the National Association of Realtor’s NARdiGras  in New Orleans, mark your calendar for Monday morning, November 8.  Dustin and some fellow techies will be presenting Word Camp, a half-day Word Press event.  There will be two tracks, one for beginners, another for advanced Word Press users.  Check it out.

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